Bees and Herbs

[Steve Albert]

Many culinary herbs will attract bees to your garden. Grow herbs and you will get double-duty attracting pollinators and bringing flavorings to the kitchen. Many herbs can be harvested cut-and-come-again, leaves, flowers, and seeds. That means you can enjoy many of these herbs all season without replanting.

Bees in the garden are a good thing. Bees pollinate about 75 percent of all of the food crops in the world. Herbs can be planted in an herb bed or spread out to the corners of your vegetable beds to make sure bees stop along the way to visit your vegetable crops as they move from one herb to another.

Bee attracting herbs​

Here are several herbs that attract bees to the garden and also can be used in the kitchen.

Herb	Part used	Use
Anise	Seeds, leaves	Licorice flavor for baked goods, soups.
Bee Balm	Leaves, fresh and dried	Shred leaves and petals for green salads. Use flowers in sandwiches.
Borage	Leaves	Shred leaves for cucumber flavor in salads or sour cream.
Fenugreek	Leaves, fresh and dried; seeds	Use leaves as a vegetable, cooked with potatoes, spinach, or rice.
Lemon balm	Leaves, fresh and dried	Tea; lemon-mint flavor also used in cooking fish and poultry.
Mints	Leaves, fresh and dried; flowers for salads and garnishes	Flavor carrots, eggplant, peas, potatoes, tomatoes, and zucchini. Use in marinade, jelly, and sauce.
Oregano and Marjoram	Leaves, flower knots	Use in Italian cooking, for pasta sauces, pizza, and roasted vegetables. Greek dishes: souvlaki, baked fish, Greek salad. Mexican dishes: beans dishes, salsas.
Sage	Leaves, fresh or dried; flowers as garnish	Flavoring for meats and poultry. Good with apples, dried beans, cheese, onions, and tomatoes.
Sweet Basil	Leaves fresh	Companion to tomatoes in salad, sauce, soup. Also with fish and seafood and roast veal and lamb.
Thymes	Leaves and sprigs; flowers for garnishes	Withstands long, slow cooking–stews, casseroles, soups; enhances other herbs.
Winter Savory	Leaves and sprigs; flowers for garnishes and salads.	Flavoring in long-cooked meat and vegetable dishes and stuffings, often with green and fava beans.

More tips at How to Start an Herb Garden.

The post Bees and Herbs appeared first on Harvest to Table.

Continue reading...